More than 1.2 million Texans licenses have been suspended since Texas enacted the Driver Responsibility Program in 2003. The DRP imposes hefty surcharges on drivers who receive certain traffic violations, such as driving without a license or driving without insurance. They must pay annual surcharges in addition to fines and court costs associated with the initial traffic ticket, or the DPS suspends the driver's license. In 2009, lawmakers ordered DPS ...

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How do they verify that you are at or below poverty level? The IRS will not release records unless under court orders. And there are lots of people that are at or below the poverty level that do not wish to take food stamps. ... Yet another law, good in it's inception, but because we have idiot law makers, there is no way to verify, enforce, or police. Expect this to be a large write off of what is actually owed.

Please explain this. I know it cab't be as complicated as taking one pill twice a day... but it comes close. HA!

..."Those whose income is at or below 125 percent of the federal poverty level ($27,937.50 annually for a family of four) are eligible for the indigency program that begins today. Drivers who qualify will pay 10 percent of the original amount owed for all surcharges combined, up to $250.

TO ALL CITIZENS OF THE STATE OF TEXAS. My name is Daniel Montes. I was cited for traffic violations two months ago. Case was before Judge Nash, JP in Lancaster Tx. I filed a motion to declare CH 708 of Tx Trans Code "surcharge program" unconstitutional. Before the prosecutor dismissed the case for lack of witness, I presented the court a notice of application of writ of mandamus to the Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas.Case Number: WR-76,215-01 Date Filed: 7/29/2011 Case Type: OR/MAN Style: Montes, Daniel Jr.

I ask you and any attorneys, law firms, law schools, civil rights organizations, etc. to file friends of the court briefs in support of relator's application and motion to declare CH 708 unconstitutional. My angles of attack is not double jeopardy, decided in Ex parte Drake. In fact the 3rd Court of Criminal Appeals in Drake declared the surcharges a tax. My angle is that congress prohibited from delegating its taxing authority to the DPS and MSB. Plus three other legal basis. I can email a copy of my filing. I am asking the court to declare the statute unconstitutional, refund every dollar collected with interest, reinstate all drivers licenses suspended under the program, etc. This is the first time CH 708 is before the high court. I'm pro se. I got it this far. Help me close CH 708 as an unlawful tax. You can call me anytime. Daniel Montes, 469-563-8998.

July 12, 2012 @ 11:54 a.m.

kathy lovelady

Any folks with surcharges for points...might want to search "surcharges+transportation code" The code clearly states the amount of time that we are suppose to have to pay fines. my license was illegally suspended as I was suppose to have 12 consecutive months to pay, they gave me $35 minimum and then suspended my license.Now, I recieved one for $265; according to transporation code (709. something) it states that I shall have no less than 24 consecutive months to pay. So now I am suspended for driving with a suspended license (paid the fine $700, even though TC says limit is $350) then paid the surcharge, and now I received a letter that they are suspending me for another 6 months because I drove with an invalid license! and in the same week sent me a letter stating that I have 30 days to pay the mimimum installment of $35 or to pay in full. Um...my calculator says that $260 divided by 24 comes up to a different amount and lesser amount than $35....yes, so not only are they double and quadruple jeapordizing, they are breaking TexaS Transportation Code...I brought it to their attention, but no luck. Oh, was given choice to request a hearing; after about 15 requests, I only got the suspension; no response as to why I was not given a hearing....nevermind our rights under the Constitution of TExas or the Constitution of the United States.

July 12, 2012 @ 11:56 a.m.

kathy lovelady

any comments to the above post as i am at work typing too fast, may not make sense...please feel free to ccontact me at [email protected]

August 7, 2012 @ 9:40 a.m.

n espinoa

this is texas bullshit i became unemployed last year due to the surcharge fees im the victim of this law and i hate being one i submitted paper work for hte indegent program and i was never assisted m y information was never enough or good enough for god's sake i recieve unemployent you have that on your records dont tell me you dont because you do they wanted to base there decesion and assistance on my past years income and yes i was not going to qualify im 32 my young years fell right at the start of the driver responsibility scam so im almost 15,000 in the whole i see people with dl drive more recklously than people with suspended licenses but its okay as long as you can pay your fine its a battle of economic classes and the low income families are not being let out the crab bucket dayum right im pissed God know's it cant hide the pain